Dortmund keep winning streak alive, edge struggling Stuttgart

Posted Saturday, February 21, 2015 by Foxsports.com

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang opened matters for Borussia Dortmund during their Bundesliga match at Mercedes-Benz-Arena on Friday night.

Borussia Dortmund is not all the way back to top form, but a Friday night 3-2 victory at VfB Stuttgart gave them three wins on the trot in the Bundesliga and may be enough to put some of the relegation worries to bed.

Shinji Kagawa set up both first half goals with clever passes, Marco Reus was dynamic in midfield and there were signs that Dortmund is finding its attacking eye just in time for their return to UEFA Champions League play at Juventus next Tuesday (live, FOX Soccer Plus, 2 p.m. ET).

Winning for the 16th time in an unbeaten run of 18 Friday night games, Dortmund climbed to 10th place in the league, although the pack in the middle of the table is so tight they are still only four points clear of the relegation zone. It was a perfect tonic ahead of their European commitments.

After taking the lead in the opening half, Juergen Klopp's team appeared confident and secure after the interval, bossing things in midfield and restricting the home side to just the occasional raid. If there is still not as much attacking potency as in previous seasons, Klopp's defenders do seem to have shaken off the miseries which led to so many uncharacteristic errors in the first half of the campaign. They no longer look like they fear their next league assignment.

Stuttgart, winless in the league since Dec. 16 and 0-1-4 since the second half of the season began, remain anchored at the bottom, three points behind Hertha Berlin and SC Freiburg. Boss Huub Stevens, who had said avoiding relegation would be a major challenge when he took control of the club, is now looking like a prophet. Without any midfield influence, and too prone to give possession away cheaply, VfB was always on the back foot.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the 26th minute beneficiary of the first Kagawa assist, slipping between a pair of defenders as the Japanese international one-touched a pass from Reus that provided the scorer with space enough to calmly finish from 12 yards. Aubameyang had been denied a 15th minute strike when he was offside to slot in a rebound after Sven UIreich could only parry an Ilkay Guendogan rocket, but he was perfectly-placed to take his second opportunity.

Stuttgart got even in the 31st minute when Nuri Sahin tugged the shoulder of Georg Niedermeier to bring down the defender as Dortmund tried vainly to clear a rare ball in the box. Austrian Florian Klein put the penalty past Roman Weidenfeller to the left corner even though the BvB keeper guessed correctly.

The equality lasted only eight minutes thanks to a marvelous piece of invention from Kagawa, who back-heeled the ball at the top right of the box to spring Guendogan into the box on the right. Guendogan measured his shot well, holding off some defensive pressure before beating Ulreich.
Kagawa nearly got a goal himself in the 53rd minute when Aubameyang's pass allowed him to get in deep left, but a combination of Niedermeier and Ulreich cut off the shooting angle. He gave way for Kuba Blaszczykowski with 22 minutes to go having contributed effectively.

Dortmund should have gotten a third in the 80th minute but Henrykh Mkhitaryan waited too long to send Reus in on the left, so Reus was offside on a 3-on-1 that could have resulted in another Aubameyang goal. Timo Baumgartl then gifted Reus with the third Dortmund goal, his wretched back pass picked off in the 89th minute by the German international who then rounded Ulreich to score into an open net.

Dortmund relaxed a bit too much, alloweing Niedermeier to head in a Filip Kostic header-on to a corner in stoppage time to make the final score flatter the home team.

Leaders Bayern Munich go to Paderborn Saturday to headline the six-match program. Second-place Wolfsburg and third-place Borussia Moenchengladbach do not play until Sunday due to their Europa League matches of Thursday night.